FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TRADING SPACES - PAGE 2

March was going out like a lion in Los Angeles, as desert winds push temperatures into the 90s -- just right for redoing rooms without the benefit of air conditioning. "7th Heaven's" Geoff Stults had stripped down to a tank top, putting aside his "Trading Spaces" smock for the moment, as he used a ruler and a Sharpie to touch up a paint job. Asked why he agreed to be on the hit TLC series -- in which two sets of neighbors have two days, $1,000 and the help of a designer each and a carpenter to redo a room in each other's home -- Stults laughs.

When 11-year-old Abby Riviello saw a flyer about a new version of her favorite show, "Trading Spaces," in which boys and girls decorate each other's bedrooms, she knew she had to be on it. The only problem was that her bedroom had recently been redecorated in yellow and blue with a Laura Ashley bed set on the white wicker furniture. Her friend, Danielle Piazza, on the other hand, "needed her room to be redone," Abby said sympathetically. "It hadn't been done since I was 6," 11-year-old Danielle piped in. Which is why on Saturday, these two girls and two boys were redecorating each other's bedrooms for a new spin on the popular home-decorating show, "Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls."

`I'm kinda scared that your designers will come in here and change this into something that it's not meant to be," says Davey before handing the key to his Scottish palace in "Trading Castles," a "Trading Spaces" special. "There's a whole history here that I'm nervous about whether Americans totally understand what that's about," Davey explains. You can't blame the guy. The show's designers have created some wacky rooms in its four-year run. The series has even strung together a DVD called "They Hated It!

Fans of TLC's cable TV show "Trading Spaces" may finally have a chance to find out the answers to these burning questions about the home makeover show: Why does designer Genevieve Gorder walk around in her bare feet? Is the host, Paige Davis, as perky in real life as she is on TV? What happened to that woman who burst into tears when she saw her room redone? Gorder, one of the Trading Spaces designers, will be the guest speaker for Tinley Park's home improvement show, Home Showcase, Oct.17-19 at the Tinley Park Convention Center, 18501 S. Harlem Ave. She's scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and sign autographs.

As the pop classic says, "you always hurt the one you love." TLC sure loved "Trading Spaces," so much that the cablenet nearly loved the poor show to death. Based on the British series "Changing Rooms," "Trading Spaces" premiered in the fall of 2000 and within a couple of years became a true TV phenomenon. It had a simple premise: Two sets of neighbors each have a designer, the shared services of a carpenter and $1,000 to redo a room in each other's home -- without having a say about what's done in their own home.

"I just don't trust myself with a power tool, especially right now," says Pamela, a neighbor/team member on an upcoming "Trading Spaces" episode. "I'm dangerously premenstrual." This is the allegedly new and improved "Trading Spaces"? Bubbly host Paige Davis is out, and confessional narratives are in. The series goes "hostless" on Saturday, adapting yet another format in its five-year history. Set in Santa Fe, the episode centers on Pamela and Andy, who occupy separate houses.

Ty Pennington, host of the new ABC show "Extreme Makeover, Home Edition," has purchased a new, 2,100-square-foot home in Venice, Calif.--and judging from the $1.1 million price tag, it's hardly a fixer-upper. Pennington, a former set designer, was one of two carpenters in residence on TLC's program "Trading Spaces" before he started his hosting gig with ABC. Pennington's new abode is a two-story, three bedroom contemporary built in 1924. It features a fireplace in the living room, bamboo floors, vintage windows and a master suite with tree-top views.

With timing as curious as many of its decorators' design choices, the dubious makeover sensation "Trading Spaces" airs three episodes arising from visits to college campuses Saturday night. This is being done not because student decor is fascinating or inspirational but because the show is, presumably, popular on campuses, as anything that takes one's mind off of doing the required reading tends to be. So, um, why is this airing in August (7-10 p.m. Saturday, TLC), when students are, like, away from campus?

At times, Frank Bielec feels as if he's traded places with a movie star heartthrob of yesteryear. Recently, he was perusing the aisles at a Lowe's Home Improvement Center, as he often does, when a woman caught a glimpse of him, stopped talking and turned pale. Her eyes rolled back, and she fainted. Bielec caught her before her head could hit nearby lumber. When she came to, she wanted to know if it was really he--Frank, the designer from the TLC cable television show "Trading Spaces."

Cameras rolled around 1:15 p.m. Monday outside Halas Hall as Adewale Ogunleye stepped out of a black stretch limousine wearing a throwback Pete Maravich basketball jersey and shorts. They caught Ogunleye smiling widely, opening the glass doors to his new football home and offering to help the chauffeur carry Ogunleye's designer luggage. A few hours later on the practice field, cameras clicked and pens scribbled as Ogunleye stood next to coach Lovie Smith and chatted about things known only to them and skilled lip-readers.